The Big Way Samuel Adams Is Supporting Pride Month

As of June 1, it's officially Pride Month, and Boston-based beer company Samuel Adams is delivering big and seemingly heart-felt Pride-related news (via YouTube). Pride Month began as a weeklong celebration culminating in a single march to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, the six-day protest that began on June 28, 1969, in support of what was once termed "Gay Rights" (via the Library of Congress). 

Thirty years later, President Bill Clinton officially declared June to be Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. In 2011, President Barack Obama further championed the message of inclusivity by expanding the name to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. Today, the more-streamlined Pride Month suffices to convey its inherent message, which GLAAD has characterized as a call for activism, celebration, and whatever else it might take for everyone and anyone who does not fit within the cisgender rubric to enjoy the full acceptance and equality promised to all at the birth of the United States. 

In that spirit, Sam Adams has committed big bucks and untold person-hours to championing a bar culture that is safe and welcoming for all individuals, including bar staff and bar patrons, per a press release dated June 1, 2022. And that's not the only big way that Sam Adams is supporting Pride Month in 2022.

For the fifth consecutive year, Samuel Adams has released its annual limited edition Love Conquers Ale, which, according to a Sam Adams press release, is brewed with "Samuel Adams' Pride" to serve "as a platform for togetherness, love, and inclusion wherever it is enjoyed and whoever it is shared with."Samuel Adams describes the 2022 edition as a "welcoming beer with hints of hibiscus and yuzu for bright citrus and prickly pear creating a bold, pinkish hue that captures the joy and expression of Pride." 

The Pride-motivated employees who helped develop this year's Love Conquers Ale gush over the citrusy, sessionable brew in a video posted by the company on YouTube. But what may resonate even more is their enthusiasm over Sam Adams' having signed on to the Safe Bars P.A.C.T., which it has done in partnership with GLAAD. The PACT acronym stands for the Promise of Awareness, Compassion, and Trust and comprises a "code of conduct" for beverage purveyors, the aim of which is to nurture a safer and more respectful environment in drinking establishments so as to foster inclusivity among both employees and patrons.

In addition to throwing its name behind the Safe Bars P.A.C.T., Samuel Adams has committed $100,000 to Safe Bars, the not-for-profit organization behind the initiative. This money is expected to go toward, among other things, the development and execution of nationwide bar and brewery training programs that further the PACT's values. What's more, Samuel Adams is giving away free beer this summer, too.